With over three decades in the performance arena, Dr Subhashini Parthasarathy’s works have two important aspects — thematic concepts and her exhaustive work in padams and javalis (two components that are positioned just before the final piece).
With a doctorate in music, Dr Subhashini has done extensive research on padams and javalis. An ‘A’ Grade artiste of DD and AIR with many awards and accolades to her credit, her performances includes concerts across India and the world.
Trained by none other than the legendary T Muktamma, Dr Subhashini’s works have mostly drawn the sringara rasa (in which composers sing in praise of the lord) in padams.
I wish more youngsters came forward to learn padams and javalis from the senior artistes, she says.
She adds that padams shouldn’t become obsolete due to time constraint during programmes. “The duration of a concert is around two to two-and-a-half hours. One padam takes around 12 to 13 minutes, while a javali is usually three minutes long. Therefore, performers often don’t accommodate two padams,” she explains.
She adds that padams have a lot of lessons to offer, including breath control. “In padams, the delineation of raga and bhavas is more evident. It helps a lot when you sing raga alapanai and niraval. There are a few words that are spread out with long syllables that help in cultivating breath control,” she adds.
Trained in the gamaka-oriented style, Dr Subhashini started learning music from the age of five. Following in the footsteps of her mother Dr Nirmala Sundararajan, she trained under P N Raghava Rao and T M Thyagarajan. She came under the tutelage of Muktamma, when she was in college.
Now a teacher, Dr Subhashini says that she is fortunate to have had some of the greatest teachers to train her. “My gurus belonged to a close group that was linked by music. They had great values and I shared a good rapport with all of them. They always believed that family came first, and appreciated the fact that I discharged my duties at home before I came for classes,” she recalls.
It is the centenary year of T Muktamma and Dr Subhashini fondly remembers her guru as a great human being who encouraged her students. “I accompanied her for concerts on a few occasions when my mother wasn’t around. She gave us a separate mic and the liberty to suggest compositions. She often discussed her early years growing up and her learning phase under her guru. Even in her final days when she was bed ridden, she asked me to sing for her,” she reminisces.
Having had stalwarts like D K Pattammal, Lalgudi Jayaraman and S Ramanthan presiding over her arangetram at the age of 16 in Ragatharangani in Mylapore, Dr Subhashini reckons that while performance spaces have expanded over the years, the sense of competition has increased too. “Those days there was no TV, so the sabhas were the only place. Today the avenues vary from TV channels and YouTube to traditional venues. Peer pressure makes youngsters go through anxiety which was relatively less or even non-existent during our days,” she adds.
However, she says that the increasing number of artistes is a good sign. “Every family has a musician and it is nice to see people coming forward to learn the art,” she says.
Dr Subhashini is working on a suprabhatham that she plans to explore, as part of her exhaustive repertoire of music. Apart from her works, she is also hands full with classes with eight of her disciples. “I take classes on Skype too,” she says, adding that even the guru-shishya relation has undergone a change. “Like how mother-daughter or mother-in-law-daughter-in-law relationship has changed, the guru shishya relationship, has too. My students are free to ask if they could record. Even Muktammma suggested that I recorded during classes,” she signs off.